I08 GENERATION OF INSECTS 



laid by the caterpillars in September, hatched out very 

 small, black gnats, having two long, black antennae on 

 the head. 



I tried a great many other experiments, and made many 

 observations, but owing to carelessness, some pages, on 

 which I had inscribed them were mislaid; hence not 

 wishing to trust to my memory, I shall pass on and tell 

 you that it is possible that there is some kind of tree, 

 which can engender caterpillars, undergoing the usual 

 transformation from chrysalis to butterfly. I do not af- 

 firm this, neither do I deny it, and in order that every one 

 may believe as he chooses, I will continue my report. In 

 the same year, at the beginning of May, I noticed a great 

 many berry-like growths, or little green balls on the rough 

 side of the leaves of the osier. These were larger than 

 a cherry stone, and towards the end of May became red, 

 sprinkled with white; they were but lightly attached to 

 the leaf and were yellow inside the large cavity, in which 

 a caterpillar was always found, that was very slim and 

 white, with a brown head, and was intent on feeding 

 and on excreting. From the beginning of June to that 

 of October, I continued my investigations to ascertain 

 whether the caterpillars come out of the balls and are 

 subsequently transformed into butterflies, but I never 

 had the good fortune to find a single one with a hole in 

 it. I was not able to make any discovery with some 

 that I enclosed in jars, for after ten or twelve days, I 

 always found the caterpillars dead in the hollow of the 

 leaf-ball. There is another kind of osier, that does not 

 produce these red balls in the leaves, but has instead 

 warts or knots on its branches, in which caterpillars, 

 similar to those mentioned above, are bred. I was 

 equally unable to find out the ultimate transformation of 



